The Memory of the Lash

Title: The Memory of the Lash
Author: TICS
Rated: NC17
Genre: Angst, bdsm, Slash, Hurt/Comfort, Movieverse
Pairings: Haldir/Legolas
Summary: In Valinor, Legolas tries to help Haldir remember. Sequel to "The Comfort of the Lash," written for Minuiel...because she asked. Blame her. :D

A/N: Here ya go, Min...hope you enjoy it! I thought it might be interesting to see how Legolas/Haldir would react to their past if this sequel took place in movie verse after Haldir's...erm...departure at Helm's Deep...

//_____// indicates flashback

The Memory of the Lash


Three Elves stood around the bedside of a fourth, watching with worried eyes as he tossed and turned and murmured on the soft mattress, swaddled to his chin in blankets. Every so often a cry of protest would burst forth from his lips, his pale, silver brows knitting, his head shaking in negation, and a tear would slip free from his unfocussed blue eyes to track across his cheek.

They had waited for over a century for this day, and yet now that it had arrived all three of the watching Elves felt both trepidation and pain fill their hearts as they watched the fourth twist and turn and fight his demons. Each wished to put out a calming hand to rid the fourth of his agony, but none did...none could. Haldir needed to find his way along the path of his memory alone, as painful as it was for him.

Rumil twisted his head, burying his face in the crook of Orophin's shoulder, unable to watch any longer. The youngest of the three brothers bore an extra weight of sorrow at the sight of Haldir's writhing, for it was upon his shoulders that the burden of raising the newly re-born former March Warden had been placed by Mandos. For the past century in Valinor, Rumil and his wife had loved and raised his brother, now his son, saying nothing, but knowing all along that one day Haldir would remember his past and would need to travel the path of pain he now walked. Rumil's tears were as much for the son he had cradled in his arms, the son whose skinned knees he had kissed and whose sweet kisses he had accepted in return as they were for his stoic and courageous brother who had met his end valiantly on the walls of Helm's Deep.

Legolas stood slightly apart from Haldir's brothers, his mind turned inward as he recalled a set of memories unshared by the others...the memory of the lash laying stripes of agony across his skin coupled with the memory of gentle fingers tracing those red, crisscrossing paths with soothing ointments. Overshadowing both was the memory of lovemaking so sweet and satisfying that his organ stiffened with remembrance to this very day. He had left Lorien a better Elf for Haldir's attentions and although they had met twice since, both times while Legolas toiled as a part of a Fellowship during the War, never again had they found a moment to share privately. When Haldir had met his death on the wall at Helm's Deep, Legolas had wept bitter tears at both his lost opportunity and his inability to ease Haldir's suffering as he passed from this life. The only thought that kept Legolas' soul tethered to his body was that he would meet Haldir again one day in Aman.

When Legolas had finally set his feet upon the Blessed Sands, Haldir had already been reborn as Rumil's son, but was still an elfling. Patiently, Legolas had waited, saying nothing to anyone of their shared history, begging only to be present when this day finally arrived. Once again, Legolas found he could offer no solace to Haldir, could do no more ease his pain than he had been able to do on the wall of Helm's Deep, and the helplessness he felt was staggering.

A particularly strident cry passed Haldir's lips, drawing the Elf Prince's attention from his internal musings to the writhing form of the former March Warden of Lorien.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

// "So be it...restitution for every display of disobedience will be taken from your hide, Legolas. Your skin will remember my words."

A loud crack of leather and an explosion of fiery pain swept Legolas' back, wringing a cry of surprise and anguish from the Elf's lips, his body instinctively twisting away from the lash that had been laid across his bare skin. //

In his reverie Haldir cried out, lost in his memories as they resurfaced, unwanted and abhorred, reliving each stroke that he had lain upon the silken skin of the Woodland Prince. His head twisted from side to side as he fought too keep the visions away, not wishing to remember the horrors he had inflicted on Elves too numerous to count, and especially not those connected to this one Elf...this platinum tressed, perfect Elf, but unable to stop them.

//"We shall see youngling...we shall see how long your brave words hold," Haldir murmured. He traced the rounded curve of Legolas' buttocks with his crop before delivering several sharp lashes. His gray eyes darkened as he watched the alabaster skin of the prince raise in angry red welts. //

Haldir's hands balled into iron fists, clutching the edges of the bed's blankets in white-knuckled rage as visions of flesh, scored red by his hand, played across his mind's eye. Beads of sweat collected on his brow as he was forced to watch by his memory's insistence each stroke he had lain against Legolas' ivory skin.

And then...finally...it was over. Haldir slumped back against the sweat-drenched pillows, his muscles unclenching and his heart returning to its normal, steady beat, his breathing becoming calm and even. In his mind's eye he watched as he tenderly cared for the Prince's wounds, applying a soothing balm with a gentle hand.

He smiled in his reverie as he again heard Legolas forgive him for the pains Haldir had caused in the completion of his duty to his Lord, and again felt the relief at Legolas' proclamation of his understanding the need for it.

Then, Haldir remembered even more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Orophin looked down at the Elf on the bed as his throes of agony calmed, feeling relief wash over him. "It is over then," he said, giving Rumil a reassuring squeeze. "He has remembered his past."

"Aye," Rumil agreed, picking his head up from Orophin's shoulder and looking down at his brother-son. "He seems at peace...the worst is over." Suddenly, Rumil froze as he watched Haldir's chest begin to heave again. As his eyes traveled down the length of Haldir's sheet-covered body, they widened as Rumil noticed Haldir's newly formed erection outlined clearly under the damp sheets. "What is...what could he possibly..." he murmured in confusion, looking toward Orophin.

"Leave us, please," Legolas said softly, his soft blue eyes meeting those of Rumil and Orophin in turn.

"Leave you? Why?" Rumil asked, a slight frown creasing his brow. "He has only just remembered...he will need his brothers...his father...with him now."

Orophin narrowed his eyes at the former Prince, but soon a look of wonder crept into them and he opened them wide. "You? It was you... Haldir never told me his name, but on the march to Helm's Deep he confided in me that he had taken a lover, one that meant a great deal to him...one that he meant to spend the rest of his days with after the war was over. Then he was...gone, and with him the opportunity to question him further. It was you," Orophin repeated, almost to himself.

Rumil was startled by Orophin's revelation, for his brother had never mentioned anything to him, not in Lorien, and not since in Aman. "He is too young!" Rumil protested, frowning at both his middle brother and the Prince. "He is barely past his majority, and now...facing his past will have rendered him emotionally vulnerable. I will not have it!"

Orophin smiled, shaking his head at his brother. "Rumil, you speak as a father, as well you should, but look at him! He is reliving something now that neither you, nor your wife, nor even I can sympathize with...or help him with. Only Legolas shares this experience with him. Will you deny him again what he was denied in his previous life? He has suffered enough, brother. Let him have his happiness now...he has waited long enough."

"He will suffer no pain at my hands, Rumil," Legolas vowed, bowing his head and touching his hand to his heart. "If he awakens and no longer...feels what he did for me once upon a time, I will never again speak of it, and his eyes will never again see me to remind him."

Rumil looked into the solemn face of the Woodland Elf, then at his brother-son, whose face, though still deep in reverie, had been transformed. No longer was Halidr's face twisted in agony, instead it was alight with joy as his memories moved from the lash to something more tender and intimate. At last Rumil nodded, then turned and left the room silently with Orophin following closely behind him.

Legolas sighed, then bolted the door after the brothers before turning his attention to the Elf on the bed. Moving around the room purposefully, Legolas blew out all but a very few candles, leaving the room only dimly lit with a warm, yellow glow. He slipped out of his robes, the cool air of the room kissing his skin as he walked over and sat on the edge of Haldir's bed, naked. He set a small vial on the night stand next to the bed, and waited.

Reaching out with one slender finger, he gently stroked Haldir's cheek, closing his eyes and letting his own memories wash over him. How long had he waited for this moment? How many nights had he lain awake wishing for it? What would he do if Haldir no longer wanted him? To the first two questions the answer was "too long, and too many." To the last question he had no answer save one...to beg Mandos to take him to the Halls. To live until the Rending of the World without Haldir was a fate Legolas simply could not bear, not even here in the Blessed Lands. Better that he should float forever cradled in the darkness, unseeing, unknowing, and unfeeling.

Haldir's eyes blinked rapidly as the Elf roused himself from reverie and became aware of the soft light. He looked up at Legolas with confusion etched clearly on his features for a moment, until everything fell into place...his memories...he knew now who he had been once, what he had done in the course of his lifetime, and what special place this golden-haired Elf who sat beside him held in that life. "Legolas," he whispered, his voice full of longing and regret.

"Shh...I have only one question, Haldir Rumillion, but it requires an answer. Speak but the truth to me, I beg you...do you want me?" Legolas asked. The question was the same he had asked Haldir on that night so long ago in a talan so far away. He prayed with all of his heart that answer would also be the same.

Haldir sat up, the sheet falling to reveal his pale, sculpted chest. So much younger than he had been when Legolas had last seen him bare and without the centuries of training he had had in his life in Lorien, Haldir was more slender than Legolas remembered, but still every bit as devastatingly handsome. Lifting a hand, Haldir cupped Legolas' cheek tenderly.

"Just now have I remembered my previous life...the horrors of it and the joys. If it were not for the memory of you, Legolas, and our one night together I doubt that I could bear living with the knowledge of the pain I had inflicted on my kin in my former life. I know that I was duty bound to initiate them and train them, but regardless...their pain was my pain and remains mine, even here. It will follow me forever. But you...you took that pain away, if only for one night. I treasured that memory all my days, Legolas...I treasure it still. Yours was the last name on my lips when I fell, and now as I have awakened it is the first name I have uttered. To ask if I want you is the same as asking if I want to breathe...to live..." he whispered, leaning forward and kissing him tenderly.

Legolas' eyes filled with tears at hearing Haldir's sweet voice saying the words he had heard him say so often in his dreams. Lifting a corner of the sheet, he slid in next to the Lorien Elf, feeling the satin of Haldir's warm skin against his own. "Then I am yours," he said, even as Haldir lifted himself up and half covered Legolas' body with his own, crushing his lips against the Wood Elf's.

Haldir's lips were warm, his body warmer still, and Legolas felt his entire being ignite from contact with their heat. Every nerve sizzled with expectation and desire as Haldir's hands caressed his flesh and his lips hungrily devoured Legolas' own. Newly awakened to his passion, Haldir was as an Elf gone too long without food, without water and Legolas gave him sustenance without hesitation, surrendering himself to the Galadhrim's hunger.

Although young and inexperienced in this new life, Haldir's hands remembered how to love, and they unerringly drew whimpers and moans from the Wood Elf as they traversed the length of his body. No inch of Legolas' svelte form was ignored, no part of him went untouched as Haldir's gentle fingers teased and tortured him sweetly. Legolas' kiss-swollen lips parted in ecstasy as Haldir first teased a pale, rosy nipple with his fingers, then lowered his head to draw the stiffened peak into his mouth.

Haldir's organ, ripe and as hot as a forge lay heavily against Legolas' thigh, as his own, aching with need, rubbed wantonly against the Galadhrim's flat belly. Unable to take much more teasing after waiting so very long, Legolas knew that his release would soon become unpreventable. Reaching over to the night stand, he plucked up the small vial set aside there and uncorked it, allowing the spicy scent of sandalwood to escape.

Haldir's large hand covered his own, taking the vial from him. "No," he said softly. "I am greedy, and today this task falls to me."

Legolas smiled at his lover, remembering that he, himself, had prepared the way for the March Warden's entrance into his body the last time. He nodded, relinquishing both the vial and his will and spread his legs wide, uncaring if his position seemed licentious, knowing only that he wished for Haldir to hurry.

Haldir took a great gulp of air, holding his breath and his own release at bay as he felt between the Wood Elf's firm, rounded cheeks for his opening with fingers slicked with sandalwood oil. A single finger slipped past a tight ring of muscle, entering Legolas' body and as the silken walls gripped it, Haldir gritted his teeth. His release was close, so close that for a moment the Elf wondered if he could stave it off long enough to enter his beloved's body, or if he would spill against Legolas' creamy thighs. Stilling for a moment, he collected himself and then continued to prepare Legolas for his entry.

The feel of Haldir's fingers filling his body, a precursor to their true joining soon to come, nearly sent Legolas over the edge. Legolas' own organ, rising from his groin, stiff and slicked with the telltale droplets of his need, ached and begged for contact. As Haldir positioned himself between Legolas outstretched legs, the Wood Elf gazed into his lover's passion-hooded eyes and wrapped his fingers around it, ready to give it the release it cried for when Haldir entered him.

Haldir pressed the slicked head of his organ against Legolas' puckered opening, and slowly entered the Wood Elf's body. Fully sheathed within Legolas' molten channel, it fleetingly occurred to Haldir how well they fit together, two halves to a whole, before all rational thought fled and his entire being was engulfed by a raging fire of lust and love.

He began to move, forcing himself to go slowly and gently, nearly weeping as he struggled to keep his desire in check, but when Legolas wrapped his long legs around Haldir's waist, tightening them and urging him on, he happily and swiftly complied. Pounding himself in to the hilt, he withdrew only to reenter Legolas' silken tunnel with as much force, his pelvis slapping the swollen sac of the archer with each mighty thrust. It took only moments of this punishment before Haldir's release boiled up, a floodwater of ecstasy inundating him, sweeping him away like driftwood on a wild, white water current. In pulsing, red-hot spurts, he filled the Wood Elf with his seed until, finally empty and drained he collapsed, burying his face in the crook of Legolas' shoulder, shaking with emotion.

The feeling of being filled by Haldir's length, the connection long remembered reestablished, was nearly more than Legolas could bear. He moaned loudly, his fingers digging into the shoulders of the Galadhrim, and wrapped his legs tightly around Haldir's waist. This was what he had wanted, waited for, prayed for...this moment when his soul connected again with that of his Lorien lover, their bodies and spirits becoming one. One breath, one heart, one soul. The cry on his lips was joyous, full of love and longing as he gave himself over completely to his silver-haired partner. It took very little to bring Legolas crashing over the edge, his seed coating his belly only moments before Haldir filled him with his own.

Legolas cradled Haldir in his arms, unable to speak as his body continued to be wracked by shudders of ecstasy. Tears formed and fell unchecked, wetting his cheeks and Haldir's hair, each formed from the overwhelming love for the Galadhrim that burgeoned in his heart. Never again would he allow them to be separated. Never again would he fall asleep aching for Haldir's touch. Never again. Today they had both been reborn...reborn into a world where only the two of them existed, where neither would draw breath without the other knowing.

From this day forward they would give birth to new memories - ones that would warm their hearts until the Ainur sang again.

The End